I look toward the voice. And then my stomach drops.
Red skull mask. Black suit. Same eyes that haunted me at the party, fixed on me now with that same piercing, almost predatory gaze.
No other bids. Just him. Ten million fucking dollars.
The host smiles faintly, nodding.
“Sold. Harley Rutherford now officially belongs to the gentleman in the black suit and red mask.”
My legs feel like jelly. My brain screams in panic, but nothing comes out of my mouth.
The spotlight shifts off me, and the guards are there immediately, shoving me forward with gentle but firm pressure.
I glance back just in time to hear the host start announcing Archie’s auction.
My stomach clenches. I hope—pray—my friends will be okay.
I walk through the hallway, my heels clicking against the floor, my mind spinning in a storm of disbelief, panic, and some stupid, confusing flicker of excitement I can’t let myself acknowledge.
Two guards flank me. Their grip on my arms is firm, reminding me how little I control any of this.
The hallway seems endless. I can still hear the murmurs from the auction room fading behind me, but the sounds don’t comfort me.
We reach the vehicles parked just outside the building. Black, imposing, tinted windows. Chevrolet Tahoe. How typical.
One of the guards opens the rear door and shoves me inside. I land in the leather seat, heels clicking against the floor, my body stiff from fear and tension.
Before I can even take a breath, one of the guards leans over me with a small syringe.
I try to jerk away.
“Relax,” he hisses.
“This is just for safety.”
And then the needle pierces my neck.
A burning numbness spreads quickly, crawling from the point of injection across my skin, curling up the back of my neck, settling deep into my limbs.
My eyelids feel heavy.
My head tilts against the seat.
Everything is spinning, softening, like the world itself is melting around me.
I hear the guard’s faint laugh from somewhere above me, and then… nothing.
Sleep takes me completely.
And for the first time since that party, I’m utterly, terrifyingly powerless.
CHAPTER 5
MASKED MAN
I remember the exact moment I decided I would take him back.
Not if.